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History of the flag
The September 1997 edition of the magazine
'History Today' was a special number to mark
the 50th anniversary of Indian independence
and an illustration of vexillological interest
appeared on the front cover. It showed an
oleograph entitled 'Mother India Freed' which
dates from 1947. An allegorical figure of
India is seen holding seven different flags
which partly obscure each other and which
are identified only by dates. I presume that
they are flags used by Indian nationalists
(and probably by the Indian National Congess)
at different stages of the freedom struggle.
In chronological order they are as follows:
The author of ("FOTW Flags Of The World web site")
compared Vincent's notes and GIFs to two books on Indian
flags: K V Singh: Our national flag (New Delhi, 1991)
and P T Nair: Indian national symbols (Calcutta, 1987).
'History Today' has taken some liberties, it seems,
especially in terms of colours (using blue instead of
green).
Jan Oskar Engene, 23 August 1997
The fault is unlikely to lie with 'History
Today': the green of the 1931 Congress flag
and of the 1947 national flag are both reproduced
correctly in the illustration so I think
the error in the colouring must have been
made by the original artist who was working
in 1947 - strong evidence that the details
of the earlier flags were not well known
in India at that time.
When the author of ("FOTW Flags Of The World web
site") visited the Gandhi Memorial Museum in Bombay
in January 1999, I found a framed picture of 6 old Indian
flags entitled "Our Flag". These are slightly
different to the illustration in a booklet called "Our
Flag", published by the Publications Division,
Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, revised edition
1989. The flags use saffron rather than red. The museum
may be stressing the influence/contribution of the Indian
National Congress to independence.
Nozomi Kariyasu 27 January 2001
Vincent Morley, 23 August 1997
1906
by Vincent Morley, 21 August 1997
 From the cover of the August 1997 issue of
'History Today'. This flag is fully visible.
It is a horizontal tricolour of dark blue.
yellow and red. The upper (blue) stripe bears
eight stars with varying numbers of points
(this may reflect the carelessness of the
artist but see under '1907' below). From
the hoist to the fly the stars have 6, 7,
7, 7, 6, 7, 7 and 9 points. The yellow stripe
has an inscription (black or dark blue) in
Devanagari script. The red stripe has a white
sun in the hoist and a white star and crescent
in the fly.
Vincent Morley, 21 August 1997
This would probably be the 'Calcutta flag'
(Singh), or 'Lotus flag' (Nair). According
to both Nair and Singh the colours are green
over yellow over red and the stars are actually
half open lotuses (eight in all). The inscription
is blue and reads in transliteration 'Vande
Mataram' (Nair: 'Bande Mataram'). As Vincent
notes, the red stripe has a white sun in
the hoist and a white star and crescent in
the fly. The lotuses are also white. The
flag was first used at an anti-partition
rally in Calcutta 7 August 1906. According
to Nair, the designers are unknown, but Singh
credits Sachindra Prasad Bose and Sukumar
Mitra. Apparently, the exact design is unknown,
because Singh notes that the illustration
in his book is a reconstruction based on
a description.
Jan Oskar Engene, 23 August 1997
by Jaume Ollé
Source: Gandhi National Museum, photo by
Nozomi Kariyasu
Labelled in the display as 1904
This is perhaps not the same flag as in the
the one described as the First National Flag,
1906, in the booklet "Our Flag".
In the booklet, the upper band is green and
the centre of each white lotus flower is
a dot of the same size as the surrounding
petals. The lower band is red.
David Prothero, 27 January 2001
1907
by Vincent Morley, 21 August 1997
From the cover of the August 1997 issue of
'History Today'. Half of the flag in the
lower fly is obscured, but it seems to be
the same as 1906 above except that the stars
on the upper stripe all have six points and
that the one closest to the hoist is considerably
larger than the others.
Vincent Morley, 21 August 1997
This could be the flag of Madam B R Cama,
called the Saptarshi flag by Nair. This flag
was hoisted in Stuttgart at the International
Socialist Congress 22 August 1907. The colours,
according to Singh, were green over saffron
over red. Again, eight white lotuses are
set on the green stripe. Singh points out
that the inscription 'Vande Mataram' is wrongly
spelt in Devanagari script. He also notes
that some illustrations show a crescent and
a star, but that this is wrong. Nair claims
the colour order was red, saffron, green,
that the top stripe had a lotus and seven
stars, and that the bottom stripe had a sun
and moon with star.
Jan Oskar Engene, 23 August 1997
by Jaume Ollé
Source: Gandhi National Museum, photo by
Nozomi Kariyasu
The booklet "Our Flag" mentions
that this flag, hoisted at the International
Socialist Conference in 1907, is displayed
in the library of Mahratha and Kesai in Pune.
In the booklet, the upper band is green with
the eight white lotus flowers in profile.
The word "Vandemataram" in the
middle yellow stripe is inscribed in white
and spelt differently. The penultimate symbol
is omitted and the final symbol is different.
The lower band is red. The sun is in the
fly corner, the crescent moon, with no star,
is in the hoist corner.
David Prothero, 27 January 2001
1916
by Jan Oskar Engene, 26 August 1997
From the cover of the August 1997 issue of
'History Today'. Half of the flag in the
lower fly is obscured. There are nine horizontal
red and blue stripes with a small union jack
(three stripes high) in the canton. Two white
stars are visible in the lower hoist and
there are probably more stars in the part
of the flag which is not visible. A significant
difference between the image shown here and
the 'History Today' illustration is that
the star and crescent in the upper fly is
missing from the latter. Is this, perhaps,
a reflection of the communal tensions which
existed in 1947? On the other hand, a star
and crescent are shown in the 1906 flag,
so it may be just another indication of the
artist's lack of familiarity with the older
flags.
Vincent Morley, 21, 26 August 1997
This one is probably the flag of Dr. Annie
Besant's and Lokamanya Tilak, associated
with the Home Rule Movement of 1917 and hoisted
during the Congress session in Calcutta.
The stripes are red and green according to
both Nair and Singh (five red, four green),
while the Union Jack is in red and blue only.
A crescent and a star, both in white, are
set in top fly. The white stars number seven
in all and are arranged as in the Saptarishi
configuration.
Jan Oskar Engene, 23 August 1997
1921
by Vincent Morley, 23 August 1997
From the cover of the August 1997 issue of
'History Today'. One quarter of the flag
in the lower fly is obscured but I think
that it is unlikely to contain any additional
features. The flag is a horizontal tricolour
of white, dark blue and red with a large
black spinning wheel in the centre.
Vincent Morley, 21 August 1997
According to Nair and Singh this was the
flag approved by Gandhi in 1921. However,
the colours are white, green and red, with
the charka in dark blue set all over close
to the hoist. This flag was not formally
adopted by the Indian National Congress,
but nevertheless widely used.
Jan Oskar Engene, 23 August 1997
1931a
by Vincent Morley, 23 August 1997
From the cover of the August 1997 issue of
'History Today'. Again, a quarter of the
flag in the lower fly is obscured but I think
it is probably blank. The flag is orange
with a black or dark blue spinning wheel
in the canton.
Vincent Morley, 21 August 1997
Singh says a flag of saffron with a reddish
brown charka in the canton was recommended
by the flag committee but not adopted by
the Indian National Congress. Instead 1931b
was adopted.
Jan Oskar Engene, 23 August 1997
1931b
by Dylan Crawfoot, 17 April 1999
From the cover of the August 1997 issue of
'History Today'. This is the only flag of
the Indian National Congress of which I was
previously aware: it shows a horizontal tricolour
of orange, white and green with a dark blue
spinning wheel on the central stripe.
Vincent Morley, 21 August 1997
Indian National Congress adopted this flag
6 August 1931 (Singh). It was first hoisted
31 August 1931, a date declared as Flag Day.
Proportions were 2:3.
Jan Oskar Engene, 23 August 1997
From "Freedom at Midnight" by Larry
Collins and Dominique Lapierre:
"For thirty years, the tricolour sash
of homespun cotton khadi, soon to replace
the Union Jack on India's horizons, had flown
over meetings, marches and manifestations
of a people thirsting for independence. Gandhi
had designed the banner of a militant congress
himself. At the centre of its horizontal
bands of saffron, white and green, he had
placed his personal seal, the humble instrument
he'd proposed to the masses of India as the
instrument of their non-violent redemption,
the spinning-wheel.
"Now with independence at hand, voices
in the ranks of congress contested the right
of what they called 'Gandhiji's toy' to occupy
the central place in what was about to become
their nation's flag. To a growing number
of party militants his spinning-wheel was
a symbol of the past, a woman's thing, the
hallmark of an archaic India turned inwards
upon herself.
"At their insistence the place of honour
on the national flag was assigned to another
wheel, the martial sign of the conquering
warriors of Ashoka, founder of the Hindu
empire, had borne on their shields. Framed
by a pair of lions for force and courage,
Ashoka's proud symbol of strength and authority,
his dharma chakra, the wheel of the cosmic
order, became the symbol of the new India.
"Gandhi learned of his followers' decision
with a deep sadness. 'However artistic the
design may be,' he wrote, 'I shall refuse
to salute a flag which carries such a message.'"
The book also mentions the Tower of Residence
in Lucknow, north-east India. The tower had
become a symbol of the unconquerable Empire
after resisting an 87-day siege in 1857.
According to the book, it was the only place
in the British Empire where the Union Jack
was never lowered. On the eve of Indian independence
in August 1947, the Warrant Officer took
down the flag, had his men chop down the
metal flagpole with an axe, hack out the
foundations and cement over the hole where
it had stood. They were determined that no
other nation's flag would fly from this sacred
spot.
Dylan Crawfoot, 14 April 1999
1947
The national flag adopted at the time of
independence.
Flag of August 15, 1947
The flag was first flown and recognized as
the Indian National Flag (not just as that
of the Congress Party) in Hamburg in 1942.
Ed Haynes, 30 September 1998
On 15 August 1947 the dominions of India
and Pakistan were established. India adopted
the familiar horizontal tricolor of orange,
white, and green with a blue Ashoka Chakra
at the center. The tricolor had been used,
unofficially, since the early 1920s as the
flag of the Indian National Congress, with
the colors representing Hinduism (orange),
Islam (green), and a hoped-for unity and
peace (white). More unofficially, the flag
was patterned on the other example of struggle
against British imperialism, Ireland. Most
often, a blue spinning wheel was shown in
the center, derived from Gandhi's call for
economic self-sufficiency through hand-spinning.
It was this flag that was first hoisted as
the "official" Indian flag in Berlin
on 3 December 1941.
The spoked Ashoka Chakra (the "wheel
of the law" of the 3rd-century BC Mauryan
Emperor Ashoka) replaced the Gandhian spinning
wheel to add historical "depth"
and separate the national flag from the INC
party flag (and Indian political party flags
are another tale).
Ed Haynes, 10 April 1996
These are approximate colours shades for
the Indian national flag:
Shafron: #ff8040
Green: #009900
Source : Dipesh Navsaria, 01-JUL-1996 ("FOTW
Flags Of The World website at http://flagspot.net/flags/")
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